We Are The Kids From Yesterday
by mmmarlena
Summary: Gerard, Mikey, Frank & Ray realize the great struggle involved in parenthood after parting ways with their band MCR. Will the reformation of their band save their lives once again, or will they just find themselves in even more atrocity?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic ever, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys are gentle on the comments. I can take criticism, but make it constructive! The first chapter is pretty short, more of an introduction, but as the story progresses, it'll get longer. Well then, please enjoy! :)**

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><p>"Hey, Daddy, why don't we buy Mikey Jr. this?"<p>

My ten-year-old daughter Bandit and I were out toy shopping for my brother's son's fourth birthday.

"No, hun, no guns please. There's enough crime in world as it is today."

"But Daddy, this is a toy gun! And look! It comes in different colors, too: yellow, red, green and blue!"

Those colors sounded familiar. I turned my head to where my daughter was standing with the toy guns and couldn't help to notice that those guns looked exactly like my band's model guns for the Na Na Na music video.

"Oh my God…" I whispered.

"What is it?" my daughter asked excitedly.

I kneeled down to take a better look at those toy guns. I held the yellow one in its case and stared deeply at it. I felt its handle, its bullet hole, everything! And it all felt exactly like my Party Poison gun. Then, this big wave of nostalgia washed over me. Ever since our 2010 album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, my band and I have not made an album since. Heck, we haven't even spoken together as a band since our Honda Civic tour in the summer of 2011. I was beginning to wonder where all those years of struggle, as well as accomplishment went and if they would ever come back. I was also beginning to wonder what had pulled us away from each other…

"Dad?... DADDY!" my daughter Bandit was tugging hard on my shirt at this point.

"Huh?" I snapped out of my trance.

"Are we going to give this to Mikey Jr.?" she asked.

"Umm… sure. You know what? We'll buy all four of the colors." I grabbed all four different-colored toy guns, dumped them into the shopping carriage, and headed for the cash with my daughter holding onto my left hand.


	2. Chapter 2

We arrived home in a flash, thanks to my speed driving. I zoomed out of the car with the bag containing the four toy guns and ran to the door of my house, almost forgetting to unlock Bandit's door. I giggled softly to myself and ran back to go open it.

"Heh, heh. Oh, hunny, I'm so sorry."

Bandit gave me one of those playful death-stare looks. I giggled again and kissed her forehead.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I beckoned her on.

I entered my house and slammed the door shut.

"Hi, sweetheart!" I called to my wife Lindsey.

"Hey, guys," she greeted, "did you buy the gift?"

"Yeah, I'll show it to you later!" I shouted, while running upstairs to my room like an eager little boy coming home from school.

"What has gotten into him?" asked my perplexed wife.

"Old age, Mommy," my daughter replied, half-jokingly.

Well, perhaps my daughter was half right. We are in the year 2019, I am 42 years old and you know what? I do feel old. Well, on the inside. I gotta say, I haven't change one bit on the outside, however my hair did change back to its original dark brown color, and I have been dressing more like a father. But there was a big part of me missing on the inside. My life no longer felt productive. I no longer felt like I was doing some good to the world. My music died out. And what were kids listening to today? Some gay-ass techno shit only done by synthesizers. There was no heart into it. It had no soul. It was like music for robots, and kids today thought it was cool. God, I want to gag.

I entered my room and locked the door. I eagerly shuffled through the bag with the four toy guns and picked out the yellow one. My God, the details were even greater than when I saw it at the store! That's it! This toy company totally copied my Party Poison gun! I demand a lawsuit!

I gotta call up Mikey.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang,

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mikes?"

"Yeah…"

"It's, um, me, Gerard."

There was an awkward silence.

"Oh! Gerard!" my brother Mikey exclaimed. "Shit, it's been so long since we've spoken. I can't believe I almost forgot how your voice sounds on the phone!"

"Yeah, um, Mikey, this may sound a little odd to you, but remember our model guns for the Na Na Na music video shoot?" I asked with a hopeful tone.

"That's like a century ago." he dully replied.

"Well, I went to the toy store today with Bandit and coincidently found four toy laser guns, yellow, red, green and blue, which look exactly like ours! …So I bought them."

"Do you even care anymore?"

My heart almost stopped when I hear him say that. "Well of course I care! Mikey, what is there to really care about these days?"

"Lots of things!" he replied.

"Like?"

"…Your family." Mikey replied almost like he was about to cry.

I couldn't really find an argument to that.

"You know what, Mikey? Forget about it. I'll just go and return the toy guns tomorrow."

"No. Wait," he said, "I wanna take a look at them. Just for old time's sake."

I smiled. "Sure, Mikes."

"Oh, and Gee? Have you told the others about this? You know, like Frank and Ray?"

"Um… no. I was gonna get to that."

"'Cause I was thinking, if it's alright with you, that you invite them over, maybe for supper, along with their family, so they can come check out the toy guns in person?"

"Of course! That sounds like fun!" I said happily.

"Alright, so let me know when it'll be. Oh, and out of curiosity, did you actually have to buy _all_ four different-colored guns?" he snickered.

"Oh shut up, Mikes." I replied, a little embarrassed about my eagerness of this all and a little upset that Mikey found amusement in it.

Mikey chuckled. "Alright, talk to you later, Gee."

"Kay, Mikes!"

I waited for him to hang up his phone first before I hung up mine. I sat back on the headboard of my bed, feeling rather pleased with myself. I focused my eyes down at the bag with the four toy guns laying across the bed.

"This will be interesting," I told myself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Hey all! Well chapter 3 is up and done. Took me a little longer to write this one. I'm trying to upload a new chapter every day, if I got the time. **

**A big "thank-you" goes to ****XxMyHedleyRomancexX**** for her wonderful comment. I really appreciate it! **

**Don't forget to review! Thanks, and enjoy!**

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><p>Ding dong! The doorbell rang.<p>

"I'll get it!" I said, while heating up the stove. I was helping my wife cook pasta sauce for the guests tonight. Not that I was much of a help in the kitchen anyway.

I ran to the door, but before opening it, I peeked through the peephole, just to know who to expect. Wow, it was a miracle Frank and his family were first to arrive.

I opened the door.

"Hey, guys!" I greeted.

All I could here was a snort. Frank's famous snort.

"What?" I asked.

"Gerard, nice apron!" Frank snorted, while tackling me into a hug.

Aw, shucks. I forgot to remove my freakishly-looking cooking apron. Ah well, something to laugh about.

"Aw, Frank! Long time no see! Jamia! How are you?" I greeted Frank's wife. "Wow, Lily and Cherry, you girls have grown so much! How old are you now... sixteen?" I joked.

"If you tell them that they'll start asking me if they can put makeup on." Jamia exclaimed.

"We're only nine teehee." Lily squeaked.

"Alright, we'll go say hi to Lindsey and Bandit now." Jamia said, pushing Lily and Cherry along to the kitchen.

It was only me and Frank alone in the main hall.

"So, Frank! My God, you haven't aged one bit!" I said, putting my hands to my hips.

"Yeah, that's what you think. I feel like shit on the inside."

"Hey, man, you look fine. Don't beat yourself up." I assured him. You know, maybe, just maybe our band break-up wasn't the brightest idea ever.

"Thanks, man," Frank said with a shy smile on his face, "and thanks for inviting us over. It's been so long. This visit will really do me some good."

"It's a pleasure, Frankie." I told him. I couldn't wait until a showed him the real reason why I invited him over.

The doorbell rung again. This time it was Mikey with his wife Alicia and son Mikey Jr., and Ray with his wife Christa and son Bauer. We all greeted each other with open arms, so glad to see each other's faces again.

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><p>The dinner table was quite a mess considering how many we were and how annoying the children were acting.<p>

"Mommy, I want this."

"Daddy, I want that."

"Ewwy, I hate vegetables!"

"Where's dessert?"

"Cherry, that's enough! Damnit you're getting on my nerves!" Frank shouted. Frank has never shouted his entire life. I guess he was never really pissed off at anything his entire life. How can one little girl piss you off so much?

"Frank!" exclaimed Jamia, a little embarrassed.

"You know, pasta tastes better warm." piped my wife Lindsey. I shot her an irritated look.

"But Jamia, you gotta discipline those rascals." Ray informed, standing up for his bud.

"Lindsey, your pasta never even tasted so good anyway." I said, ignoring the others and still fixing an irritated look on her.

My wife just gasped, hurt.

"Ray, you have no right to tell them how to discipline their children!" said Christa.

"Well, I just wanna help Frank out a little..." Ray said disappointed, looking down at his food.

Frank's face brightened. "Aw, thanks Ray!"

"Oh, so you can stand up to your friend, but not your wife?" Alicia protested with a little attitude in her tone.

The room went silent after that.

"So... so you never really liked my pasta, Gerard?" my wife asked, sadly.

Jesus, since when does she even care what I think about her food? Not now, Lindsey, not now!

Ignoring my wife's question, I turned to look at Mikey, who has been an awful lot quiet during this very lively supper. His face looked like a lost puppy who's been abused by its owner. Aw, I know Mikey. He hates fights and managed to have our band free from fights back in the day when we were My Chemical Romance. How can we possible break his heart like this? Just a couple of hours of seeing each other and already a fight?

Parenthood has ruined us.

By this time, everyone was talking out of turn. Everyone was arguing about different things to each other, including the kids! From my wife's pasta, to disciplining children, to even arguing about who has the most butterfly stickers! I just stared at Mikey, and he just stared at me. We weren't quite sure if our next move was to start wailing or to start arguing ourselves, for no particular reason whatsoever! Everyone was doing it, why should we be the odd ones out?

And all hell broke loose.

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><p>"Okay, so what the FUCK man?" Frank yelled as I closed my bedroom door.<p>

"Yeah! Since when did we become so bitchy?" Ray added.

We had just finished supper and somehow managed to escape the dinner table and go upstairs, into my bedroom.

"Dudes, we totally gotta find a way to chill and just get away from our normal lives." Mikey pitched in.

"If you wanna call it 'normal lives'..." Frank joked.

They all laughed.

I blinked hard about three times, impatiently waiting for them to stop talking so I can show them the toy guns replica of our Danger Days model laser guns!

I cleared my throat loudly. They finally turned to look at me.

"Oh yeah, Gerard, what is it you wanted to show us?" Mikey asked, winking, due to the fact that he already knew what I wanted to show them.

"Right. So you guys, yesterday, Bandit and I went to the toy store and I happened the stumble upon these." I took the bag and turned it upside, making the four toy guns flop onto my bed.

"No way!" Frank exclaimed, " Since when did we approve for this toy company to make replicas of our babies?"

I was so pleased that Frank recognized the toy guns. I was even more pleased that he called them 'our babies'.

"Exactly my point!" I expressed. "What gives them permission to do this?"

"Well," said Ray, picking up the blue gun, "it doesn't look exactly like our model guns. It's just the colors that are the same."

"But Ray, doesn't it feel like your good-old Jet-Star laser gun?" I asked.

Frank was just totally zoned out, experimenting his gun.

"You know what, guys? I think I got a brilliant idea." Mikey said.

We all turned our heads towards him at the same time. Since when did Mikey become to leader of the group?

"Well might as well spit it out now, Mikes!" Frank told him.

"Why don't we reform My Chemical Romance?"

There seemed to be a beam of light flashing towards my wonderful genius-of-a-brother Mikey.

"Yes!" I blurted out. "Yes, yes, yes and yes! We should and we will. C'mon, guys, who's with me?"

Frank and Ray just stared at each other.

"Do we still got the funk?" Frank asked.

"How about our family?" Ray added.

"Funk? Family? Well of course we still got the funk. Look at us! We look exactly the same, perhaps even act the same once we're on stage. And family? Tell me, Ray, did you see the shit that went around tonight at the dinner table?" I asked.

"Well..." Ray wondered.

"Well maybe it'll do us all some good if we took some time away from our family." I finished his sentence. "Now who's in?"

"I'm in!" Frank exclaimed, high-fiveing me and Mikey.

Ray, being the most rational guy out of us four took more time to answer.

"Alright, let's do it!" he finally said.

"YEAH!"

We group hugged and high-fived, jumping up and down like little girls.

"I'm sorry you guys, but you leave me no choice but to say this..." I began, "well are you ready, Ray?" I sang.

"Yeah, I am!" Ray answered.

"How 'bout you, Frank?" I continued.

"Oh, I'm there, baby!" he said.

"How about you, Mikey?" I chuckled.

"Fuckin' ready!" he exclaimed.

"Well I think I'm alright... ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hello, fabulous Killjoys! Chapter 4 up! :D Well, here goes my acknowledgements:**

**A big thank you once again to XxMyHedleyRomancexX, JennyKitty198, Controversial Mayhem & xLaurelCullenxx for their lovely & encouraging comments. I really appreciate it. :)**

**Before I let you continue reading the story, I would just like to let you all know that even though this story seems to be attacking Gerard, Frank, Mikey & Ray's family, my intentions are most definitely not to. I love these four guys dearly, and I bet they are living one heck of a lovely life with their families, and I am very happy for them and wish them nothing but the best. I just thought this storyline about the struggle to keep up with parenthood as well as your youth would be very interesting to express. **

**Thanks for listening! Please enjoy & review! :)**

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><p>Well, the day was finally here! The day My Chemical Romance reunited and went back on tour to bring our fabulous music back to life. This tour wasn't going to be very big… we just got a couple of gigs around the U.S. at small venues. But hey, it's a start to our resurrection!<p>

I was alone in my room packing my bags for our two-week leave, singing some old My Chemical Romance tunes to myself to get into that young, care-free mood again.

"And you ooonly live forever in the lights you make… when weee were youuung we used to say… that you only—"

"Daddy? Where are you going?" my daughter Bandit popped up right beside me, almost giving me a heart attack.

"Bandit, don't scare me like that! You know it's not nice to barge in someone's room without knocking first." I stalled. I have not yet told my daughter and wife what was going to happen today, as well as for the next two weeks. I was afraid that they, especially my wife, would give me shit and force me to change my mind. So I guess today's the day the find out. Oh joy.

"Sorry, Daddy. I should've known. You told me this already when I was six years old and walked into the room while you and Mommy were having—"

"Woah, woah, woah!" I cut her off. Man does she have a memory of an elephant! I tried to erase that thought from my head.

I sighed. "Listen, hunny, can you tell mommy to get in here, please?"

"Okay." she simply said. "Then will you tell me where you're going?"

I sighed again. "Sure."

Bandit skipped out of the room and out of sight. I was beginning to formulate phrases in my head, choosing the correct words, explaining that I'm getting back together with my band and that I'm going to be away touring for the next two weeks. But how can I tell that to Lindsey and Bandit without it sounding too shocking like I'm abandoning them?

Lindsey entered the room.

"What is it, Arthur?" she asked sternly.

Crap. Lindsey only called me by my middle name when she was pissed at me. I guess she was still pissed from the other night when he had the whole gang over for supper. This will not go smoothly.

"Well, hunny, sugarplum, baby, love of my life, sweeth—" Woah. What was I doing? Calling my wife every name young couples use when they're just married? How cheesy!

Lindsey just stood there, arms crossed, looking at me very weirdly and confused.

"Gosh, Lindsey, I'm gonna be away for the next two weeks on a tour with my band My Chemical Romance. We just got back together and we've decided it's time to just separate from our real lives and back to our crazy-fun musical lives." I blurted out.

My wife stared at me, her eyes wide and eyebrows raised. Then I heard a sniffle followed by a sob, coming from Bandit. Why on earth was she crying?

"Aw, Bandit, sweety," my wife comforted her, "there's no reason to be sad. Go in your room, we'll talk later, okay?" Lindsey finished, escorting Bandit to her room. She came back, but this time, she slammed the door shut.

"Are you okay?" she cried.

"No! I'm not okay!" I replied.

"Have you lost it?" she questioned.

"Have you?" I spat back.

"You know what, Gerard? I think something has gotten into you. You've seemed to lose interest in a lot of things, one of them being your family. Like, I don't know what happened the other night at the dinner table, but it sure wasn't like you and the rest of the gang. You think you can just run off like this without thinking about how we feel? Did you see your daughter cry?"

"Lindsey, I need this!" I managed to say.

"And you don't think I need this, too? You don't stop and think that I feel the same way, too, and that sometimes I really wanna get back together with my band and just make things go back to how they were in the past? Well they can't because we've both agreed on starting a family and giving a lot of attention and love to our family even if that means that we gotta quit our band!"

Damn, she sounded so right.

I heard a car pull up on my drive way, followed by two honks. I looked outside the window. That was my ride. I backed up slowly, reaching for my jacket and bags.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, "just please, let me do this."

I looked straight into her eyes the whole time I said this with a look of certainty. I walked towards her, very slowly and steadily, still looking straight into her eyes. By this time, I was right in front of her, staring at her beautiful, dark eyes filled with pain. Then I did something that I haven't done in quite a bit of time: I kissed her. On the lips. It was a very gently and sweet kiss, as if I was reassuring her that everything would be alright… hopefully.

Before saying another word, I walked out our bedroom door, out of the house, and into the van where my band was, feeling like shit from head to toe.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Greetings all! Chapter 5 is finally here! Sorry for the delay...**

**A big thanks to XxMyHedleyRomancexX, JennyKitty198 & Controversial Mayhem for their awesome comments! Once again, I really appreciate it.**

**Just a little warning, this chapter contains mild Frerard, so beware! ;)**

**Please enjoy and review! Thanks! **

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><p>"Amplifiers?"<p>

"Check."

"Guitar picks?"

"Check."

"Beer?"

"Check."

"Mikey's asthma inhailer?"

"Check!" Mikey coughed, looking like he was about to puke.

"Alright, guys, looks like we're ready to rock the house!" Ray said cheerfully.

Fuck. I sure wasn't ready.

"Two minutes 'till you're on, guys. Here's your replacing drummer. He knows the whole setlist. Good luck!" said the organizer of our gig, handing us over this young, but nerdy-looking guy.

"Hiya!" he said.

Oh my God. I feel doomed. We meet our replacing drummer minutes before the show and he's looking like this? I turned around lazily, crouching down with my head hanging low, staring at the floor of the backstage. I can't believe I'm doing this… I can't believe _we're_ doing this. Though I was so used to having this pressure before going on stage, I felt so new to it.

Frank crouched down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"Hey buddy, you alright?"

"I feel sick."

"Listen, we can just play this gig, see how it is, and go back home if you're really feeling bad."

"I'm not a chicken."

"Thirty seconds!" said the organizer.

"Ready, Gee?" Frank asked, trying to catch my gaze.

I just nodded.

He pulled me up and patted my back. His hands then slid down along my spine until it reached my ass. He gave it a squeeze.

I jumped, as if I got electrified. "Woah! Frankie?"

He beamed at me. "Just a little extra push to boost up your confidence."

Alrighty then.

"Alright you young, crazy teenagers! Please put your hands together for My Chemical Romance!" announced the host.

We all gave a thumbs up to each other. Then we awkwardly ran onto the stage, staring at the 200 faces of the new teenagers of today. They looked oh so very dull, but scary.

The claps stopped, then a pause. I cleared my throat. I looked at the others on stage with me. Frank gave me a wink.

"Hello, New Jersey!" I said into the mic.

Cricket, cricket, cricket.

"We are the one and only My Chemical Romance Reunited!"

Yeah, I decided to add the word 'reunited' to our name on the spot.

"How you doin'?"

Cricket.

Really? Were we _that_ forgotten?

"Okay… so our first song is actually our first song ever written. It is called Skylines and Turnstiles. Hit it!"

The guitars started, followed by drums, bass, and finally vocals.

Hey… this wasn't half as bad… EXCEPT WE WERE NOT TIGHT AT ALL!

We progressed into our next song Helena, then Teenagers, and finally Bulletproof Heart.

"And we could run away, run away, run away, run away from here… Away from here… away from here… away from here." I finished singing. Phew.

"Thank you, New Jersey! Hope you liked it. Please enjoy the rest of the bands… please."

We got off stage rather disappointed.

"Well?" asked Frank.

"Well." answered Ray.

"Did you see those little dipshits? Talk about disrespect!" Mikey argued.

'Hiya, guys!" said our replacing drummer. "Great show! We nailed it! Well, see ya at our next gig in Philly! Biya!" he hopped off full of energy. Total opposite from how we were feeling right now.

"Um… okay… is it me, or does that guy have to get his ears checked?" Ray said.

The next band began to play, but this time the whole crowd was on their feet doing the robot dance to the band's very fake, very electronic music.

I sighed. "Guys, let's talk about this in the van." I said, guiding the three outside.

We loaded all our instruments in the van and slammed the doors shut, feeling very squeezed inside. We fidgeted, trying to find our comfortable spot.

"I don't remember ever feeling this tight before…" Ray began.

"That's 'cause we used to have an actual tour bus, Ray!" Frank snapped.

"Last time we used a van was when we just started as a band. It's like we're starting all over again." Mikey pointed out.

"Guys, enough complaining. We all agreed to do this tour so… we're gonna do it! It's just two weeks, we'll handle it." I lied.

Ray began driving to our next destination. Mikey sat on the passenger seat, giving him the directions, and me and Frank sat on the back seat, along with our instruments.

"Gee, did you see those kids?" Miked told me. "They hated us! Our music is dead now. Unfortunately, the new generation listen to crap music. The kids that grew up listening to our music are probably all grown up now, busy become doctors, lawyers, mothers or fathers!"

"Hey, Michael, you were the one who brought up the idea about reforming our band!" I cried.

"Well you approved of it!" he shouted.

"Nothing gold can stay…" Frank piped.

We all turned to look at him strangely.

"Well," Ray cut in, "we should think of something that we used to do in our old concerts to make us look young again… so kids can appreciate us more." Ray suggested.

"Like what…" I wondered.

"Like Frerard!" Frank exclaimed.

Man oh man did his brain work fast!

I wasn't so sure how I felt about bringing back Frerard, but my senses began to tingle.

I turned my head slowly towards Frank, who was already staring at me with a horny smile.

Ray and Mikey burst out laughing.

Jesus, this little hormone-raged monster I created had a mind of its own! After all, I'm the one who started Frerard by kissing Frank first one stage.

"You know what, Frankie?" I said, "I accept."

Frank just tilted his head backwards, shut his eyes tight and let out a sharp laugh.

Back in the day, our crowd used to love and go absolutely crazy for a Frerard moment to happen on stage or in a music video. I guess a sexy thing like that was something every sex-crazed generation would like to see. This will be fun... Philly? Be prepared.

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><p>"I won't go down by myself, but I'll go down with my frieeeeiiiends... C'mon!"<p>

"Noooow, now, now, noooow..." Ray filled in.

This is it! It's our moment to redeem ourselves as well as our music so the kids of today appreciate My Chemical Romance more!

By this time, Frank ran to me, jumped on me, wrapped his legs around my waist, and kissed me on the lips, very aggressively.

"Ow, Frank!" I moaned as his lip ring scraped my chin.

Our kiss lasted for a good... seven seconds I'd say, but was unfortunately interrupted by some shitty kid in the crowd. That shitty kid decided that it was going to be funny to throw beer bottles at us, which gave a domino effect, making the entire crowd start throwing beer bottles at us.

My band mates stared helplessly at each other.

"BOO YOU SUCK!"

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"THAT'S NOT EVEN REAL MUSIC, YOU FAGS!"

Oh _no_ he did _not!_

I yanked the microphone fiercely, throwing the stand to the crowd. Then I yelled into the mic, "YOU KNOW, YOU MOTHER FUCKERS KNOW NOTHING AT—" and then I felt a blow to my head, followed by a shattering sound and immense pain.

And then I fell to the floor, unconscious.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Hello beautiful people! I'm kinda sad and excited to announce that this is the final chapter which pretty much closes up my first fanfic ever; We Are The Kids From Yesterday. I'm so sorry I kept you guys waiting so long for this chapter, but seeing as it's the last, I wanted to make it extra juicy!**

**Before I let you all go. I just wanna give an enormous 'thanks' to everyone who took the time to read my story, and an even bigger 'thanks' to XxMyHedleyRomancexX , JennyKitty198, , Controversial Mayhem & xLaurelCullenxx, who were generous enough to leave me a review. Very much appreciated!**

**Alright, I think I'm done now. See you next time, but until then, please enjoy the story and review. Buh-bye! :3**

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><p>Beep… beep… beep…<p>

Gerard… Gerard… Oh Gerard…

I found myself surrounded by pure white. There seemed to be a beam of light flashing in front of me. It began approaching me, slowly. I tried looking beyond the beam of light, but there was nothing to be seen to my apprehension. I winced at the light which was now approaching me quicker than ever. I tried to back up, avoiding the light, but my panic froze me. Then, the beam of light swept me away…

"Gerard! Oh thank goodness you're alive!"

"What…?" My breath was squeezed out of me from my wife who was hugging me, or practically strangling me at this point.

"Give him some room and air, please, Mrs. Way."

My wife abruptly jumped off me.

"Sorry." she said, sounding embarrassed.

I finally came to my five senses and realized where I was. I was laying on a hospital bed, with many tubes attached to my wrist, a gas mask surrounding my mouth and nose, and a big bandage covering the left side of my head. I heard a piercing beeping sound every second, and I was partially blinded by a bright light, parallel to my eyes. Around me was a rally fat and sweaty doctor, two blonde, young nurses, and my beautiful wife Lindsey who had a very concern, but joyful look on her face.

"Gerard," said the doctor, "how do you feel?"

I feel born again.

"Um… heh." I grunted.

My wife gasped and eyed the doctor. The doctor gave her a reassuring look.

"Do you know who this woman beside you is?"

Of course I do! She's my wife Lindsey, who I love very much.

"Linds…" I croaked, "Lindsey…"

I realized I couldn't get my voice to say much without it cracking and sounding rough all the time, so I just grabbed my wife's hand and squeezed it tight. She squeezed back with tears welling up in her eyes. The doctor quietly beckoned her out the door.

"Gerard, I'll be right back." she told me, unfolding our grasp.

She then followed the doctor out the room and shut the door. I could see my wife and the doctor talk from behind the glass window on the door, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. All I knew is that something was wrong from the horrified expressions on my wife's face. Then I saw the doctor placing his giant hand on my wife's shoulder, and my wife nodding.

The door opened, but it was only my wife who came inside this time. She gave me a sad smie and caressed my forehead and hair.

"Gerard, hunny, I love you so much."

She made me feel so warm. I smiled weakly. "Wha… what," I cleared my throat, "happened?" I managed to say.

"Shh…shh… don't speak. Rest your voice, baby."

I cleared my voice again. "Pl… please tell me."

Oh my God, my voice was completely done!

"Oh, Gerard," my wife said with tears gently streaming down her pale cheeks, "when you were giving a show in Philadelphia, someone threw a beer bottle to your head. The impact was so hard that it shattered a little piece of your skull and damaged… and damaged…"

I opened my eyes wide, insisting her to go on.

"And damaged the part of your brain that controls your vocal chords. The doctors say there's nothing they can do about it…" she finished, feeling sorry for me.

"So that means…" I croaked, sounding like a toad if a toad was able to speak.

Lindsey sighed. "No more singing."

Wonderful. The words I was so sure to never hear in my entire lifetime. No more singing. No more love. No more passion. No more Gerard.

I just shut my eyes and nodded, surprisingly taking this very well.

"Sweetheart, please don't pretend like that. I know just as much as you know how much this is going to affect you. Don't keep your anger bundled in like that."

"Well how am I supposed to let it out without singing?" I forced my voice, just reminding me how awful it sounded.

There was a pause.

"…I don't know." Lindsey pouted.

The fat and dripping doctor came in the room and walked over to me.

"Welcome, Gerard, feeling alright?"

I didn't answer. I didn't think he expected me to answer.

"Well, there is some good news… you'll be able to go home in four days after we complete a couple of tests to make sure the rest of your brain is functioning properly. But as for your voice, it's very important that you don't force it or else it can cause an infection in your vocal chords. So when you talk, talk gently. Don't shout, scream, and especially, don't sing.

Bam. Another whip to my heart.

"I'll leave you two alone for now. If you need something, just press the button on the intercom. We'll be back in a few hours to run some tests." The doctor finally finished and left the room.

My wife turned to me and continued caressing my forehead. "You got that, hunny?"

I nodded grimly.

"The guys are here. Want me to get them to come in?"

I nodded again. "Please."

My wife kissed me on the cheek, got up, and headed to the door.

"I love you." I whispered, gently.

Lindsey turned to look at me.

"I love you, too." she smiled, and went out the door.

I sighed heavily in frustration. I got into this horrible mess for no other reason but myself. Not Mikey, Frank, nor Ray. It was me who actually forced everyone to reform our band and go back on tour. This is what I got.

The door opened and in came Frank, Ray and Mikey. They all had worried expressions on their faces, but they smiled when they saw me.

"Hey, Gee!" they chanted.

They each took a chair and sat around my bed.

I cleared my throat. "Listen, guy, don't feel bad for any of this. It's all my fault."

"No, buddy, you listen. If it weren't for us who agreed to go back on tour, none of this would've happened. Everything would've gone back to normal." Frank said.

Hmm… back to normal… I never really liked normal. I did this to get more excitement in my life and this was my punishment. Or is it a punishment? Maybe this is a milestone for us all and something good will come out of it.

"You guys?" I croaked. "I think this is the best thing that has ever happened to us."

"Huh?" said Ray.

"What do you mean?" asked Mikey.

"Please, elaborate." Frank told me.

"Well, if you realize how unsatisfying our lives became at one point," I almost whispered, "maybe this event that just happened to us will shake us up a little and remind us how important our family really is, and how we shouldn't abandon them for any reason. We thought they were the brats, but maybe we were the brats all along.

They just stared at me with mouths opened wide, as if I was some old, wise man living in the mountains and came down just to recite this.

"Gee… I think you're really right. I mean, how could we have fought with them in front of the kids at the dinner table the other night? How could we have actually thought about ditching our families for this tour?" Mikey stated.

"Well," I wondered, "in the end, we should be thankful for this tour or else we would have never reasoned like this."

"Yeah," Ray agreed, "back in the day when we had almost nothing, our band was the only thing there to save us. Now thanks to our band, we have a family and we're probably living a lot better than we would have if we never had My Chemical Romance. Now that we've grown and matured, instead of relying on our band to save our life, we can go to our family."

"So are you saying that we should let our band go for good?" asked Frank.

"Not for good, but for now." Mikey said, being the awesome leader he is. "We gotta be good to our family and always be there for them."

I smiled proudly at these wonderful fathers and husbands standing before me and blinked out a couple of tears.

"I love you guys so much!" I croaked, while pulling Frank, Ray and Mikey into one great, big hug.

They all hugged back, silently sniffing. After a while of hugging, we pulled back, looking at each other's tear-drenched face. Then we burst out laughing—except for me. I snorted like a pig.

"Alright you fools," I choked, "go home to your beautiful wives and children. Go get laid." I joked.

We all laughed again.

"Kay, see ya later, gee!" Mikey said.

"Get well soon!" Frank exclaimed.

"Take care!" Ray finished.

Those three mighty men left the hospital with a lot of knowledge tonight. Not for anything, but I honestly felt so much brighter than I ever did before. Perhaps the kids of today didn't think so, but all of that didn't matter because we are the kids from yesterday.

* * *

><p><em>5 days later…<em>

Late the following evening since my arrival home from the hospital, I heard some rummaging and low, distorted music coming from my bedroom. I opened the door steadily and walked inside, finding my daughter Bandit going through an old brown box.

"Bandit! It's way past your—" and then I stopped when I realized what she was doing. She was rummaging through the box containing all my old My Chemical Romance albums, while listening to Na Na Na from Danger Days.

"Daddy, this stuff is good!"

Oh bless you child, bless you!

"Really?" I answered, full of excitement.

I sat down on the floor beside her.

"Yeah! I never heard this stuff before. I never knew my Daddy was so talented." she said, placing a very wet and slimy kiss on my cheek. I didn't bother wiping it.

I examined her fiddling through my album covers with full fascination. "Thank you, hunny. I love you so much."

Well, the rest of that evening was quite a wonderful one. Bandit and I bonded extremely well for the first time. I told her all my stories: dark ones, and happy ones. She really engaged into them and showed full appreciation.

Later that night, before going to bed, I wondered what on earth I was going to do about those toy guns I bought at the toy store, it seemed like so many years ago, and came to a conclusion. That toy company can continue selling those toy guns all they want. After all, it was only their color that was the same.


End file.
